MADDEN 2008 PC, best football simulation on the market and the most supported!

Hello all,

I play as General Manager, taking control of all 32 teams and letting the CPU control both teams.

I currently use Rodgerjinx's Franchise and the FF/FI Mod Franchise mod. I also use Calhoupe's scripts, which is critical since it includes the current NFL rules and other features that have modernized Madden to present day. I have watched more that three seasons of games using my sliders, they work. The end of season stat's are very close to the NFL. I am very happy with the overall results of the sliders. Many years of testing and hard work.

Below is a sample game log, feedback is appreciated, please keep in mind that it is only one game, from my readings the average completion percentage for QB's per game is around 60% in the NFL.

Madden is not perfect and sometimes I do have to let games play out more than once if something is way off such as completion percentage, sacks, interceptions or number of punts. Using Calhoupe Scripts 1.65 and the Speed Up CPU games #2 option, you can now watch an entire game in about 10 minutes, so replaying a game as many times as needed is not a time-consuming issue anymore.

I moved from 12 min quarters, which I used and tweaked over the past 10 years to 15 min quarters in 2017 because I now wanted to mirror the NFL as closely as possible with Madden.

You must use every setting that I have, any deviation will cause different results.

PENALITYPenalties ON - All maxed at (99) except Holding at (85)Offsides ON

IN-GAMESUB out 87% SUB in 93%Pass Sensitivity 7

BLOCKINGALL OFF and normal view

Edited on 9/18/2017

I use Calhoupe's Madden Scripts 1.69Here is what I have ENABLEDTD and First Downs on Front of LineFewer Shanked Punts (Leave Fewer Touchbacks disabled) you get enough with the slidersReturn missed FG's and Fumble FixMore Aggressive CPU on 4th DownAccelerated Clock, leave it at 20 seconds, the default. I have noticed passing completion and kicker accuracy issues at lower values.Updated NFL Rules (Critical)Overtime Clock 10TD Celebrations Remove sideline LimitationQB FumblesNo reply limits and extended replayAuto Replay on every PlayMain menu 1920 x1800 resolution Television ViewSpeed Up CPU games #2, when I need it, same stats as letting the game play out

Must have Mods! FF/FI FRANCHISE MOD, ROGERJINX FRANCHISE to start the season, TexMod for updated high-resolution stadiums and equipment, The UHD Crowd Mod V2.1 and the TV Networks mod.

Okay we have our Sliders and Rosters all set, we can now set up the franchise. Personally, I like to have franchises with all 32 teams under my control but with CPU assistance turned on for teams I don’t want to fully control. I do this because CPU AI can’t manage depth charts well, plus it makes it easier to change a CPU team’s rosters should anything happen that needs changing. However, when I start a franchise, I don’t select all 32 teams to control right away. What I do is select the team I want to control, and start the franchise, and edit to control all 32 teams at a later time. I’ll explain why I do this in a bit.

Anyway, by now, you should have a franchise saved with one team under human control that is at the pre-season week 1 stage, I skip training camp. I exit out of Madden and load the Franchise in NZA' editor and navigate to the editor’s PROGRESSION TAB. Here, I edit which weeks I want progression to occur in my franchise. My preferred progression settings are for weeks 5, 11 and 17, whatever settings you choose will save in the franchise forever – it only requires to be set once per franchise and that’s it, exit out of the editor and load the Franchise up back in Madden. I simulate the preseason with the injury setting set at 30, my normal season injury setting is 102.

Once I get past the preseason, I go straight to week 1 of the regular season (since I have no progression to check out), and save the franchise. It is here that I load the FRA in the NZA editor and take control of all 32 teams. I do this now because, this way, every CPU team already has “CPU Assist” selected for all options since that is the default setting for CPU controlled teams, so it saves you the time needed to go through each coach manually in game and select “CPU Assist”. Also, regarding team ownership toggle in the editor, go to the “Coaches” tab and make sure no team has 5 coaches, I was told it happens sometimes.

Before playing in week 1, I’ll usually go through every CPU team’s depth charts and first do an “Auto Reorder” for every team, and then make any changes I see fit to ensure each team has the proper amount of players.What I usually do in year 2 and onwards of the regular season is go through every team’s roster, and make sure positions like LT and RT, LG and RG, LOLB and ROLB etc are balanced. For example, if the Bears have 4 LT’s and 1 RT, I’ll change 2 over to RT so it balances out a little more. The whole depth chart thing can take some time but I think it is vital. Most CPU teams have 1 or 2 cases of questionable depth chart decisions, it's a personal preference. Madden is very poor at Roster Mangement after the Draft, you must review and adjust each teams player positions and depth chart every year, otherwise you will have problems.

Once I have the progression periods set, the coach slider adjustments in place, and depth charts sorted, I then play the season, and I typically don’t touch the editor with the franchise until the season is over – after the Pro Bowl.

STARTING A NEW SEASON AFTER THE PRO BOWL (5 NZA Editor Actions**)

1.After you have played or simulated the Pro Bowl, it will ask you if you want to go into the offseason – choose “No” and save it here. Before going to the editor, I think it is really handy to implement a file backup system at this point.it is the post-Pro Bowl stage where I do a few things in the NZA editor 1.3 before heading into the offseason.

**2. Next I choose NOT to have all teams under human control. I do this because I found out, under human control, teams don’t operate 100% independently in the offseason even if you have all assist options set to “CPU Assist”. Namely, I found that under human control, CPU Assisted teams don’t fight for Free Agents or Coaches. If I give full control back to the CPU for teams except for the one team that choose to control, the CPU poses much more realistic threats in stealing free agents and coaches. You will need to control one team for the Draft, I favor the Jets.

**3.Lastly I apply the “Advanced AWR Boost” function in The NZA editor when my franchise is at the post ‘Pro Bowl but before the offseason’ stage. It just makes things better, it should help make sure young HB’s, OL and QB’s get progression they otherwise wouldn’t typically get.

With these 3 functions/tasks done, I’m now ready to enter the offseason. Once there, the first stage is to deal with coaches and the stadium etc.

Once the coaches/owner part is over, the offseason begins at the Retirement Stage. As anyone who has dealt with draft classes will know, this is the stage where you import Draft classes. So, do the usual here – save, exit Madden/go back to main menu, load the FRA in the editor and import the draft class

**Even if you don’t want to import a draft class, I recommend using the editor on the game’s generated Draft class here. This function, found under the Draft Class > Misc tab in my editor, makes generated rookie classes look more like the default ratings of a Madden roster, and it also limits attributes like Awareness and Tackle so rookies have room to progress if used right. This sorts out and corrects the Draft class.

**I then do the offseason until the Restricted Free Agents stage. It is here that I save, do the usual “load the FRA in the editor” routine, and apply the function in the editor’s “Progression” tab that fixes offseason AWR changes. For some weird reason, EA decided that struggling teams with “Team Distractions” on board (i.e. players who are unhappy and have a “team distraction” player role) force almost everyone on the roster to lose Awareness, this fixes that.

With this out of the way, I now play the offseason as per normal and may adjust the salary cap in the editor.Here is a general run down of my salary rules, I just follow the NFL

2016-2017 $10M increaseThe four offers teams can tender restricted free agents are, per Article 9, second 2 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement:1. Right of First Refusal Only. One-year Player Contract with Paragraph 5 salary of at least $1.323 million. No compensation is applied to the original team if another team signs this player to an offer sheet. This is usually applied with players that entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent;2. Right of First Refusal and Draft Selection at Player’s Original Draft Round: One-year Player Contract with a Paragraph 5 Salary of at least $1.431 million for right of first refusal and original draft round compensation. If the restricted free agent entered the league in the sixth round of the NFL draft, the original team receives a six in the next NFL draft from the new team.3. Right of First Refusal, One Second Round Draft Selection: One-year Player Contract with a Paragraph 5 Salary of at least $2.187 million for right of first refusal and second draft round compensation. No matter how the restricted free agent entered the NFL, the original team receives a second-round pick from the new team if said new team signs the player to an offer sheet that the original team isn't willing to match.4. Right of First Refusal, One First Round Draft Selection: One-year Player Contract with a Paragraph 5 Salary of at least $3.113 million for right of first refusal and first draft round compensation. No matter how the restricted free agent entered the NFL, the original team receives a first-round pick from the new team if said new team signs the player to an offer sheet that the original team isn't willing to match

DRAFT TIME (ONE Human CONTROL ONLY)Now it’s draft time, which I do without editor interference, outside of what I did to the draft class earlier.Once the draft is over, sign your rookies you want to keep, but don’t concern yourself with the contract details as they’re not important and will be fixed.

2nd Free Agency Period**There is a feature in the NZA editor that redoes every rookie’s contract after signing. The reason is because very early picks do not get offered enough money.Once you’re in the 2nd Free Agency period, do the usual ‘load in editor’ procedure and apply the Rookie Contracts function found in the Players > Misc tab of the editor.

And that’s about it for the offseason!Finish the 2nd Free Agency, wrap up the rest and you’re into the preseason of the 2nd season. I noted earlier on I don’t do training camps and the simple reason for this is because CPU teams don’t.

I play (watch) all the game like you - been doing it for longer than I care to remember. Been away from Madden 08 for a few years but wow - I really think you hit these right on the button. So far -10 games - everything is super close to NFL norms....even completion %. Never seen that before in Madden 08 CPU sliders. Nice work once again.

armyofone wrote:I play (watch) all the game like you - been doing it for longer than I care to remember. Been away from Madden 08 for a few years but wow - I really think you hit these right on the button. So far -10 games - everything is super close to NFL norms....even completion %. Never seen that before in Madden 08 CPU sliders. Nice work once again.

Thanks man! much appreciated!You may get a game that's off bit off sometimes, I just let it play again, I'm happy you are enjoying them.

armyofone wrote:I play (watch) all the game like you - been doing it for longer than I care to remember. Been away from Madden 08 for a few years but wow - I really think you hit these right on the button. So far -10 games - everything is super close to NFL norms....even completion %. Never seen that before in Madden 08 CPU sliders. Nice work once again.

I'm also happy to see another CPU vs CPU player, which is the best way to enjoy Madden from a General Manager perspective.

Nice job on these sliders and franchise adjustments........ The only thing I do different than you do is I play coach mode with one team and let the rest of the teams sim.......your slider set still works fine though

Rixster67r wrote:Nice job on these sliders and franchise adjustments........ The only thing I do differently than you do is I play coach mode with one team and let the rest of the teams sim.......your slider set still works fine though

Thanks! Cool! I have played that way also from time to time in past but I do prefer managing and watching every team. Please let me know how your simmed game stat's are looking.